For Employers

What Recruitment Agencies in Pakistan Actually Charge

Talentrix Team6 August 20265 min read

Recruitment pricing is quoted as a single percentage, which makes it look simpler than it is. Two agencies can quote the same number and cost you very different amounts, because the percentage is only one of five variables.

Here's how recruitment agency fees in Pakistan are actually structured, and what to check before you sign. If you're still deciding who to work with, start with how to choose a recruitment agency in Pakistan — the fee model is only one of the things worth asking about.

The three pricing models

Contingency placement fee

You pay a percentage of the hire's first-year salary, and only if you hire. This covers the large majority of permanent recruitment.

The percentage typically sits in the high teens to mid twenties. At Talentrix it's 18% of first-year salary, payable only when your hire starts — deliberately below the 20–25% that's commonly quoted, because we'd rather win on volume than on margin.

What matters more than the number:

What counts as "salary." Base only, or base plus bonus, car allowance, and guaranteed commission? The difference between an 18% fee on base and an 18% fee on total package can be substantial on a senior role. Get the definition in writing.
When it's invoiced. On start date, or on offer acceptance? Acceptance-based invoicing means you can pay for someone who never turns up.
Payment terms. Fourteen days is aggressive. Thirty is normal.

Retained search

You pay in instalments across the search whether or not you hire — commonly a third on engagement, a third at shortlist, a third on placement.

This is the right model for genuinely hard searches: C-level appointments, confidential replacements, and specialist roles where the candidate pool is small enough that the work is mapping a market rather than filtering applicants.

It is the wrong model for a mid-level role with a healthy candidate pool. If an agency pushes retained for a role that isn't scarce, ask why.

Monthly retainer / RPO

A named recruiter works your roles as an extension of your team for a fixed monthly cost, using your ATS and your employer brand.

The maths is simple. Work out your expected hires per year, multiply by average salary, multiply by the contingency percentage. If that number comfortably exceeds twelve months of retainer, RPO is cheaper. If you're filling four roles a year, it almost certainly isn't.

The costs that don't appear in the percentage

Advertising. Some agencies rebill job board spend. Ask whether sponsored posts are included.

Assessments. Technical tests, psychometrics and background checks are sometimes charged separately. Ask what's bundled.

Replacement terms. A cheap fee with a 30-day guarantee can cost more than an expensive fee with a 90-day one, because the guarantee is the part you'll actually rely on. Ours is 90 days.

Ownership periods. Most agreements say that if you hire a candidate the agency introduced within some window — often six to twelve months — the fee is due even if you sourced them again independently. This is normal. Just know the window before you sign, and keep a record of who introduced whom.

What's negotiable

More than agencies usually admit.

Volume. Committing several roles at once is a legitimate reason to expect a lower percentage.
Exclusivity. Working with one agency instead of three genuinely reduces their risk, and that should be reflected in the price.
The guarantee. Extending the replacement period is often easier to get agreed than reducing the fee, and on a senior hire it's worth more.
Payment schedule. Staging payment across the probation period is a reasonable ask.

What is generally not negotiable: paying nothing until someone starts. If an agency wants money up front for a straightforward contingency role, that's a signal about their pipeline, not their pricing.

Working out whether an agency is worth it

Compare against the real cost of doing it yourself, not against zero.

Add up: the job board spend you'd need, the hours your hiring manager spends screening at their actual cost, the hours HR spends coordinating, and the cost of the role sitting empty for the additional weeks an unsupported search typically takes. That last figure is usually the largest and the one most often left out — an empty revenue-generating role costs you every week it stays open.

Set that total against the fee. Sometimes in-house wins, especially for high-volume junior hiring where you have a strong inbound pipeline. For senior, specialist or confidential roles it rarely does.

What candidates pay

Nothing. Ever.

Recruitment agencies in Pakistan are paid by employers. If any agency asks a candidate for a registration fee, a CV-writing fee, a processing charge or a payment to "secure" a role, it is not operating legitimately. Walk away and report it.